


Grimm Vapor

by Tikor



Category: RWBY
Genre: Fanfiction, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:34:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tikor/pseuds/Tikor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An original take on Neopolitan's backstory written in play-style, dialogue and stage directions only.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grimm Vapor

**Author's Note:**

> For the May 2016 RWBY reddit MonCon  
> Character: Neopolitan.  
> Theme: Revenge.

We are in Ozpin's study. Ozpin, looking very much the same, sits behind his desk and a young Neopolitan sits before him. Gears churn above them. Ozpin has his trademark mug.  
Ozpin: Neo, why don't you tell me in your own words what happened out in the field and we can get this mess cleared up.  
Neo crosses her legs and turns her chin up at Ozpin. The bandage on her neck is very visible in this posture.  
Ozpin: The report I have here says you turned on your own partner on the mission. That after securing the intelligence and neutralizing the threat, beyond your mission parameters to observe and report, you stabbed him and left him for dead.  
Neo looks sad and worried, but does not speak.  
Ozpin: And he did die, Neo. The coroner wrote this report based on his wounds.  
Neo looks like she might cry.  
Ozpin: Do you... have a different version of events? Something to add?  
Neo picks up her head and stares Ozpin in the eyes with a serious look. She points to her neck.  
Ozpin: Maybe you could write it down for me.  
Neo pulls out her scroll and types one word, then sends the message to Ozpin. His scroll beeps and he looks at the message  
Ozpin: Revenge?  
  
We change scenes where Neo is out in a storm in the woods with her male Faunus partner who sports two black and orange tiger ears. A storm is blowing through, granting them cover.  
Neo: I zee them.  
Stripe: When I agreed to this mission I asked myself who would be crazy enough to worship the Grimm. That's them, alright.  
Several people in long dark robes and Grimm masks are surrounding a fire. They have a captive Grimm tied above the fire on a spit. It is squealing and attempting to break free.  
Neo: We got what we came to zee, let's rendezvous.  
Stripe: I want to see what they do with the thing. Maybe they're delusional but taking out the Grimm anyway. I turn tail and have the organization worry about them, we end up out here in the rain again. One soaked night is enough for these losers.  
Neo: Comme vous voulez, ingrat.  
Stripe: I know you're insulting me, Frenchie.  
They both stay under Neo's umbrella and watch as the robed figures chant and chant. Finally the Grimm catches fire. The Grimm shortly expires, and one of the worshipers jumps in the fire to catch the dissipating liquid. It drinks the Grimm's vaporizing remains, then rolls around on the ground in the rain to put out the fire in its robes.  
Stripe: They have guts!  
The worshiper has extinguished the last of the flames on the robe, then slowly rises. He then points directly at Neo and her partner.  
Neo: Run!  
Stripe rolls his shoulders and dons a feral grin.  
Stripe: Assessment changed. They're dangerous. And they fall tonight!  
Reluctantly, Neo follows.  
Her partner's katar-blades cut down first the worshiper's auras, then their lives. Neo jumps around the perimeter and makes sure none get away.  
The worshiper who ingested the Grimm's vapor shimmers. Its mask grows over its entire body and it charges Neo.  
Neo bats away its mask-claws with her umbrella and dodges it's kicks. She disappears and reappears above the beast, striking it from above.  
While airborne, the thing connects with Neo and she is tossed away.  
Neo's partner finishes the last of the worshipers, then charges the last one. They trade blows, but Stripe's aura holds fast while the Grimm mask shatters from the huntsman's strike. It falls.  
Neo's partner grapples the defeated thing by the throat and lifts it off the ground.  
Stripe: Now, let's start with the interrogation.  
Neo: How will we explain to Ozpin?!  
Stripe: *turns to face Neo* They attacked us. We write the same report and nobody questions it.  
The Grimm worshiper exhales vapor through its cracked mask. It surround's Neo's partner's face, and he coughs and chokes. The Grimm worshiper is dropped, but does not move. The exhalation was his last.  
Neo: No!  
Neo rushes at her partner and waves her umbrella at him to disperse the smoke.  
Stripe: I can *cough* see it now.  
Neo, worried, keeps waving the umbrella. Stripe's eyes turn red like the Grimm.  
Stripe: Your kin were the ones. The ones who orphaned me. I'll cut you apart!  
Neo looks surprised.  
Neo's partner rushes her and the tip of his katar enters her neck before she activates her aura or dodges. She quickly does both.  
Stripe: I can smell it on you! I can smell your blood! I can smell my parents' blood on you!  
Neo chokes and holds her neck. She summons an illusion where her blood has pooled then steps to the side and holds her breath. When her partner rushes her illusion she stabs him with her umbrella blade and disappears into the night.  
  
Neo looks deflated.  
Ozpin: I'm afraid... that I still don't understand.  
Neo pantomimes some Faunus ears, a dramatic sad face, and some fighting for Ozpin.  
Ozpin: Yes, your partner was a Faunus, but what does that have to do with...?  
Neo gestures to interrupt him, and types on her scroll.  
Ozpin: He thought his parents were killed by your parents in the Faunus war?  
Neo nods. And types.  
Ozpin: Or something like that. So he turned on you?  
Neo nods again, then holds her bandage against her neck. All the nodding has knocked it a bit loose.  
Ozpin: That would make a good story, even a believable one, if I didn't know Mr. Frillneck's parents personally. Let's dial them up on the scroll. I need to tell them the news about their son anyway.  
Ozpin rings the scroll.  
Neo looks worried. She starts typing on her scroll.  
Neo's message: It was some sort of Grimm magic! My parents didn't even fight in the Faunus war! His eyes were  
Ozpin: Yes. .... This is Headmaster Ozpin. I regret to inform you that... yes, ma'am. He was a valuable member of our forces. ... I'm so sorry. ... There is another matter; there's a wild rumor that his parents were slain in the Faunus Rights Revolution.  
Neo presses cancel on her message. Ozpin turns to give the scroll his full attention. When he does Neo gets up out of her chair and disappears.  
Ozpin: ... Yes, ma'am, I have seen your ears. ... No, ma'am I am not familiar with the particulars of Faunus hereditary patterns. ... Adopted? ... I didn't know. ... Again I'm sorry for your loss. And his.  
Ozpin turns back to Neo's chair and begins to speak.  
Ozpin: Neo, my mistake, I ... oh. You're gone.  
Ozpin types on his scroll.  
  
We see Neo walking out in a light rain under her umbrella in the city of Vale. Her scroll beeps, and she reads it. Her hands shake with fear and anger and regret. She pauses her walk and types a message one-handed.  
  
Back in Ozpin's office his scroll beeps. He opens and reads it.  
Ozpin: *reading his scroll* Framed? Lies. ... never coming back. I'll have my revenge?  
Ozpin sets down his scroll.  
Ozpin: *to himself* Oz, you've made a mess of this one.  



End file.
